The Collaborative Research Core (CR) is specifically designed to be a gateway for non-NEIDL investigators who wish to establish a collaboration that would allow them to utilize NEIDL facilities and capacities to further their research programs. The principle requirements are that all proposed research is relevant to the mission of the NEIDL, represents a scientific collaboration between the outside investigators and NEIDL research staff, and is externally funded. For example, research collaborations can be developed with investigators within the network of Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCEs), or from the Regional Biodefense Laboratory when the special facilities of NEIDL can be usefully applied. CR is the unit within NEIDL interfacing with private and public sector researchers when NEIDL can add value to their research programs, as well as with international research organizations, such as the Indian Council for Medical Research. The CR Core would be the first unit at NEIDL to respond to new and rapidly emerging challenges anywhere in the world, to safely and securely study basic pathogenesis of newly emerging infectious agents in order to identify target molecules for diagnostics, therapeutic drugs, or vaccine candidates. The CR Core is therefore central to achieving the mission and goals of the NEIDL.